Father Fear
by himayamata
Summary: Speak no evil; only breathe. Hear no evil; only listen. See no evil; only darkness... When Baby Tooth goes missing in a small town in Illinois, it's up to Jack and Tooth to find her. But when they investigate at the house, they find something more evil then either of them have ever faced. And it is hungry.
1. I Fear

**This is the edited version of Father Fear. Thank you, TheEquestrianidiot 2.0 for the help. This person knows more about the "dark entity" than me. **

**So here it is. **

* * *

**Father Fear**

**Part 1: I Fear**

A sudden winter came to the Tooth Palace. The multi-colored fairy flew over to her bedroom window to look out and smiled. A pale teenage boy with stark white hair and a dark blue sweater rushed by the fairy's window and left a cool breeze in the fairy's room, making her shiver slightly. As the boy landed on the golden floor below, Tooth flew down to meet him.

"Jack" she cried, "what are you doing here?"

"Well, I heard from Bunny that you had a bit of a problem." Jack Frost said. "I came to see if I could help."

Tooth's eyes widened with hope as he said this. "Really Jack? Do you mean it?"

"Of course. Just tell me what's wrong Tooth."

The fairy suddenly looked at Jack with worry, the spark of hope gone. "Ok. Baby Tooth is missing."

"What?!" he cried. "When? How?"

Tooth started pacing in the air as she told Jack "Well, its only been a couple of days, but it's not like her to not come back to the Palace. The last time I saw her, she was heading off to collect a wisdom tooth from a girl named "Kate Chaser".

"Ok, so where is this "Kate"? Jack asked.

Tooth stopped pacing to look directly at Jack. "Somewhere in Hawthorn, Illinois. A small house on the outskirts in the middle of a forest. The only house around for miles."

Jack smiled, a big white grin that made Tooth blush slightly. "Well then Tooth, pack your hiking gear. We're going to Illinois."

~X~

"There it is."

Jack look around and noticed a big, two-story house surrounded brick fence. Getting closer, he noticed some of the windows had been left open. As he peered through, the light suddenly began to fade. He turn to look up and noticed that the daylight was fading faster than normal. "Come on" Jack said, "Let's get inside."

Jack slipped through the open window and helped Tooth inside. As Jack closed the windows, he heard Tooth gasp behind him. The boy turned around and his jaw dropped. On the wall he was looking at, the was a large drawing of . . . what Jack thought was a man.

A tall man.

"Whoa . . Who did this?" Jack asked.

Tooth was equally stunned. "I don't know. Maybe we should look around, see if we can try to find some clues or something."

"Ok." Jack said. "I'll look around in the back. See if you find anything near here and the kitchen."

"Ok." Tooth placed a hand on his shoulder, before saying "Be careful."

"Relax, Tooth. This isn't that big of a house. I'll be right here if anything happens." Then, Jack flew off to the back, leaving Tooth alone.

~X~

Tooth was shivering. Not from the cold, but from the nervousness she was experiencing. She'd never felt this way before. Even when facing Pitch she hadn't been this nervous. She entered the next room and looked around. A large Grand Piano stood in a corner with a Tv that was laying on one side, unplugged and broken. She noticed a phone laying on a table and picked it up, placing it to her ear after hitting "talk". Nothing. As she placed the phone down, she noticed a letter with a pink lining and neat cursive handwriting next to it.

_'I can't thank you enough for coming out all this to help me! It's been a pretty rough road trying to seek this old place. I wish I had turn to you sooner. You have no idea how happy I'll be once this is all over!_

_Love you always,_

_Kate'_

As Tooth pondered what the note was talking about, she heard Jack call out, "Hey Tooth! Come here! I found a flashlight and some kinda note!"

As she flew across the house to find Jack, she stopped for a second when she felt a slight tickle in her throat. She gave a single cough, then flew off again. But then the tickle came back, and she coughed again.

Another cough, then another, and another. Soon she was hacking, no longer in the air, but on the ground on all fours, bent over, tossing her head down to the floor and wheezing. That tickle festered into a burn, and her coughs grew dry and raspy. Arching her back, she jerked her head down and continued to rasp. Her face grew red and strained, and her body began to shake. Her lungs were running out of air, and her head grew light. Then, as quickly as her coughs had started, they stopped.

She let her body relax as she gulped down air. The sudden relief brought an odd smile to her face. She tilted her head back, letting her throat recover from the spasms.

One eye cracked open. Something was at the window.

Tooth snapped her head back down.

It was gone.

Chills ran up her spine as she stared out the window, looking out into the darkness. Suddenly, a cold hand reached out and grabbed her shoulder. She jumped slightly, as Jack said "Hey, are you okay? I heard you coughing and I came to see if you were alright."

"Yeah" Tooth said, "I'm fine. You said you found a note and flashlight?"

"Oh, yeah. Here's the note." Tooth took the note and looked at it. It resembled an E-mail that read:

_'To: kmllens .co_

_From: unknown sender_

_Sent: Sun 23/11 8:33:43 AM_

_Subject: RE: Good to hear fro..._

_Attachments:_

_Thanks for calling last night. It probably sounds dumb, but it was good to hear your voice again. Good to hear that Lauren's been doing really well too. But, yeah, about what we said: I'm not sure what to think of it yet. What are the odds of two people having the exact same hallucination? Could it really just be a coincidence? I have to go to my doctor for some routine stuff so I'm going to try and casually bring this up and see what he says about it. I'll let you know how it goes._

_- CR'_

"What do you think this means?" Tooth asked Jack.

"I don't know. For know, let's try and focus on finding Baby Tooth." Jacks turned and started going up the stairs as he said "Come on. Maybe we can find something upstairs."

As Tooth followed Jack up the stairs, a chill crept up her spine . . . As if she was being watched.

A door lay unopened at the end of a hallway. Flying towards it, Jack placed his hand on doorknob and twisted . . . with no avail. Jack struggled to open it, finally giving up and saying to Tooth "I'm going to go look for a key or something to see if I can get this door open. Would you mind looking up here while I check downstairs?" He flipped the flashlight over, motioning for Tooth to take it.

She hesitated slightly, but grabbed the flashlight. "Ok, Jack. Just be careful. Something about this place feels . . . Off."

Jack smiled, a big toothy grin that made the fairy blush slightly. "Don't worry. Like I said, it's not that big of a house." And then he flew downstairs, leaving Tooth alone.

Noticing an open door on her left, flashlight in hand she slowly entered the room. Books lay thrown about, windows were open, and a suitcase lay near the door, open with clothes scattered everywhere. Slowly, she made her way across the room, when it happened.

The coughing came back, harder than ever. She fell to floor and hacked until her face turned a deep crimson. Tears of strain trickled down her cheeks as she forced out all the air she could.

And then it was gone again. She fell to her side with a thud, her face strained. Forcing herself up with heavy breaths, she stumbled towards a nearby bed and leaned against it for support. When she was stable, she wiped her eyes with a hand and swallowed dryly.

She leaned into the bed, falling into the plush surface with a weak moan. Sniffling, she let her eyes close and her head rest down on the mattress. Everything grew still once more. Even time seemed to stall, and for once tonight, she took in a deep breath of relief.

"Tooth?! Tooth, are you alright?!" Jack called frantically as he flew up the stairs and into the room where Tooth was still laying her head on the mattress.

"I'm fine, Jack. Just a slight coughing fit. No big deal." Tooth picked up her head and gave him a weak smile.

"Are you sure? I don't want you to-"

Tooth cut him off before he could continue. "Jack, I'll be fine. You don't have to worry about me. And look there's a set of keys right here." She dragged her hand across the bed a grabbed the set of keys near her head. Groaning with her body screaming in protest, she lifted herself up and walked over to Jack, hanging him the keys. "Here." she said, "Lets find Baby Tooth."

~X~

The door unlocked with a slight 'click'. Jack slowly pushed open the door and gasped. The room was covered in drawings. Broken glass cover the floor and a single lamp lit the room. Tooth entered behind him and asked frantically "Do you see anything? Is Baby Tooth here?!"

"No."Jack said, "But I did find this."

"Wha-" Tooth stopped in mid sentence and stared. A single, white Tooth rested in Jack's palm. Next to it a tiny, bright green feather.

With shaking hands, Tooth grabbed the feather from his hand. Tears filled her eyes as Jack said "Don't worry. We will find her. I promise." Jack placed a hand on her shoulder, and noticed something behind her on a desk resting in a corner. A single not lay in the lamp light. Upon further inspection by Jack, he noticed that it was a map.

Jack called Tooth over. "Hey Tooth, look at thi-" a loud scream interrupted Jack in mid sentence. Tooth rushed over to the window and said,

"Jack? Jack, what was that?!"

"I don't know." he said. "I don't know. Baby Tooth was here. We know that, but the question is, where did she go?"

Tooth crossed over Jack and looked at the note.

'TO THE WOODS' it said.

A scrawled out pictured of a tower and a building covered the page. And what looked like a picture of . . .

"Baby Tooth." Tooth covered her mouth to hold back a sob. Regaining her composer, she looked at Jack and said "Jack, I think Kate has Baby Tooth."

Jack looked over at the note and his eyes widened. "Oh, no . . . Tooth. . ." He sighed and looked at the fairy. "So . . . What do you wanna do?"

Tooth looked up at Jack. A fire glowed in her eyes, one that he hadn't seen since Pitch kidnapped her Mini-Fairies. "We find her. No matter what. I've never lost a fairy, and I'm not going to start now." Tooth turned towards the broken window and said "Are you coming?"

Jack looked at Tooth, her eyes gleaming with confidence. "Yes." he said. And with that, the two Guardians flew out the window, out the fence, and into the night.

**TO BE CONTINUED****...**


	2. Him

**Father Fear **

**Part 2: Him **

Following a stray path, the two reached a small clearing in the distance, a few miles out past the fence. An old worn down cabin stood in the center of a small clearing. "Look." Jack called.

Tooth looked to find a series of foot-prints leading away from the cabin and out towards an opening near another wooden fence in the distance.

Jack flew up to get a better view. "Looks like they go all the way into the forest!" He shouted down.

"What do you suppose it means?" Tooth asked, trying to ignore the chill that suddenly filled her bones.

Jack paused, before saying: "It's an invitation."

He looked from the steps near the cabin over to the distant tree-line. "And it would be rude to ignore it."

The moon continued to rise above the forest casting long shadows that reached the posse and encircled them like tentacles of darkness.

~X~

It watched them as they entered the woods.

It was ready for them.

It waited.

~X~

"Let's split up." Jack said. "If we split up, it gives us more chance of finding the place were Baby Tooth might be."

"Split up?" Tooth said, worry gripping her voice.

"Don't worry, Tooth. Tell you what, if anything happens, I want you to yell as loud as you can. Alright? I promise, I'll be there quick as a flash."

Tooth hesitated for a second, but when Jack smiled, she felt her confidence boost slightly. Putting on a brave face, she "Alright, Jack. Just . . . " she paused for a second, before throwing her arms around him and hugging him tightly. "Be careful."

Tooth released him as he said "I will" and flew off, leaving Tooth alone.

After watching the Frost spirit leave, she decided to look around the cabin to see if she could find anything useful. And useful stuff she did find. A big, rusty lantern stood on top of an old cardboard box. A small book of matches leaned against the lantern. '_Ok. Conveniently placed lantern and book of matches. That's not weird at all. But I can't see anything in the dark. . . " _Her mind took over, and she grabbed the lantern off the box, struck a match, and gently flew off, closing the small case to keep the flame from going out.

Her hand wrapped tightly around the handle of the lit lantern as the fairy flew carefully down the beaten path. Night had long since fallen and any available moon-light was silenced by the overgrown branches above her. The only light came from the lantern's beam. There were no animal noises save some stray crickets chirping in the distance. Stopping for a second, she looked around to try to get a picture of her surroundings.

She saw the note on the tree.

At first she paid it no mind, thinking it to be some figment of her imagination. The closer she got, however, the clearer it became.

She ran forward and dropped the lantern to the forest floor. "BABY TOOTH!" She yelled into the darkness.

No reply.

"BABY TOOTH!" She called again, louder. Her voice echoed in the quiet of the woods.

Nothing responded… at first.

It was faint, but she heard it; the faint and distant laughter of children.

Were they laughing? Or were they screaming?

The crickets had gone silent but a new sound soon reached her ears. It was quiet at first, but it seemed to grow in pitch and volume. It was a strange, deep pounding that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere all at once. It even seemed at one point to be coming from inside her own head. It almost sounded like…

…like footsteps.

Struggling to control her breathing, Tooth grabbed the lantern handle in her shaking hand and raised the light to look at the note more closely. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw the figure in the center of the paper.

Unnaturally long legs and neck, a suit of deep black, a red tie so slight it was almost like a drop of blood on the paper…

…No face.

Surrounding the figure were two crudely drawn figures. They all seemed to be dancing around the tall man. Dancing or worshipping? She couldn't tell.

One of the figures resembled a hummingbird.

Written at the bottom of the page was a single word written in broad, slashing strokes; RUN.

She felt its presence behind her without even turning around. She forced herself to breathe, faced slightly to the right of the tree… and flew.

She flew as hard and fast as she could, but the drum-like pounding seemed to follow her, beating at her from all sides. She stared straight ahead, the lantern lighting her path. She flew off the main path and deeper into the forest. She dodged tree after tree, branch after branch, and still that infernal pounding followed her. Slowing down, she landed on the ground and paused to catch her breath. She raised her head to get her bearings…

…and saw it standing not ten feet away.

She gasped and dropped the lantern to the ground where it struck a rock and shattered. The dreadful figure before her was lost in the darkness, but she'd already slammed her eyes shut. Her breath came out in little terrified gasps as she shuddered in uncontrollable terror. Regaining her composer, she did the only thing she thought of at the time.

She flew up.

~X~

He was lost. Jack stumbled around in the dark with his hand outstretched, trying to find something to grab on to. The pale light from his staff wasn't enough to keep the darkness away as he groped around trying to find a tree or branch to grab on to.

He paused when his had touched paper.

Yanking the paper off the tree, he held it up to the dim light his staff was giving off. His eyes widened in shock as he read the words scrawled out on the page:

_**'NONONONONONONONONONONO'**_

In the center of the page was a crude drawing of a tall man in a dark suit.

Jack stared at the page with wide eyes. As he looked around, trying to find a hint as to where the page came from, his ears picked up a light sound. A slow, rhythmic beat seem to be coming for all around him, but he couldn't figure out where it was coming from.

Suddenly, Jack caught a glimpse of the thing out of the corner of his eye. Moving quickly, he whirled towards the creature and shot a small bolt of ice at it.

DIRECT HIT! He watched it stumbled from the blast and slink back into the woods.

Filled with adrenaline and jubilation, he poured every bit of energy he had left into his staff, intent on freezing this thing solid.

With as fierce a battle cry as he'd ever mustered, he loosed every bit of energy he had left as a monstrously huge blast of ice. It arced in the air, heading directly for its target...

...but the thing was gone.

"How? How did it-" He stopped for a moment before cupping his hands around his mouth and crying, "TOOTH?!"

Nothing.

"BABY TOOTH?!"

No response.

"KATE?!"

Silence.

Jack was panicking now. Beyond the light of his staff, his world was one of darkness and silence.

Something long, dark, and cylindrical shot out from the darkness and knocked his staff to the ground. In the last flash of light before the staff's light went out, Jack saw the thing in the drawing standing no more than a mere twenty feet in front of him.

Rage and a sense of righteousness filled his heart and he launched himself at the beast with a defiant cry, intent of defeating the creature through sheer blunt force.

The thing actually seemed surprised for a moment, but it recovered quickly and reached out for him with countless black tentacles.

Jack closed his eyes and tensed for the impact of his body against the thing's thin frame... but it never came.

For the briefest instant, he felt like his body was passing through a veil of liquid, as though he were running through a particularly hard rain. The wet feeling passed, the darkness of the forest faded...

...into a bright happy day at North's factory. He skidded to a stop, not fully listening to the all the noises, and the smell of fresh cookies in his nose. Confused, he looked around frantically for his enemy. Of the creature, there was no sign.

A gentle breeze picked up and a small white tooth bumped against his foot.

He started at it, not fully comprehending it.

"Jack!"

His head snapped towards the far end of the factory.

"Could you grab that please? Baby Tooth accidentally dropped it.", he heard Tooth say.

"Oh! Sure." He responded on reflex before bending down and grabbing the small tooth in his hand. A million thoughts raced through his mind. Had they done it? Had they chased it off?

Had they won?

He took a step towards the Tooth and felt a twig snap beneath his foot.

The picturesque scene around him faded away like mist with the rising sun. The noises of toy making and bright lights and the scent of cookies all faded into nothingness before his very eyes. He was still in the woods, still in the darkness...

...and still very much in danger.

He jumped back when an enormous bonfire leapt to life before his eyes and recoiled from the intense flames. The light made the clearing seem larger than it had seemed before.

Three familiar figures stood on the opposite side of the fire, their backs to him.

Bunnymund.

North.

Sandman.

Overcome with joy, he opened his mouth to say something...

As the three figures turned as one to face him. They all smiled at him with the same blank smile.

Their eyes were gone, replaced by gaping empty sockets.

Jack's breath caught in his throat and he whirled to run into the darkness, to get away from the nightmare that his friends had become.

Four more figures exited the woods and blacked his path.

Jamie.

Sophie.

Cupcake.

Pippa.

They all wore the same blank smile.

All their eyes were missing.

Jack could only watch in horror as his friends and comrades stood by the fire. The maddening beat began once again and the seven figures began to... dance. They cantered and whirled and spun in an awful dance of death around the bonfire. Their feet kept time with the beat and their undead revelry seemed to draw more figures from the dark woods. More and more came with each passing second to join the terrible dance.

Some of Burgress's children, all who went missing since as far back as Jack could remember.

Monty.

Caleb.

Claude.

Numerous kids came that he did not recognize but could only be the once proud residents of the city of Burgress.

All wearing the same smile.

All had no eyes.

The smoke from the bonfire began to coalesce into a definite shape. The man's body was impossibly thin, wearing a suit as black as night, save a single red drop on its chest. The shape observed the dancers and almost seemed to conduct the grisly beat with its uncountable waving tentacles. It, now almost too large for Jack to comprehend, peered down at the Frost spirit with its blank and uncaring face.

Jack, his mind long gone, didn't have even the strength left to scream.

The monstrous tentacles stopped conducting and the beat stopped with them. The dancers all froze and, as one, turned to face the shattered Guardian of Fun.

The tentacles pointed at him.

Still smiling their horrible smile, still staring at him with eyes that were no longer there, they advanced on him.

Jack's eyes never left the The Thing's face, even as the figures around him vanished.

It never occurred to him that what he was seeing might be an illusion, one of its many tricks.

Not even when it's tentacle wrapped around his neck.

~X~

Tooth was still flying, leave's blowing past her and falling off trees. The pounding was still in her head, the relentless beat following her every move. Suddenly, it stopped.

Still in flight, she looked behind her for a brief second to see if anything was following her. Quickly, she turned her head forward . . .

And ran face first into a tree branch, her head snapping back as a blinding pain came over her. Tumbling down, she hit branch after branch, blood pouring from wounds on her body, the taste of her own metallic blood filling her mouth. Her nose throbbed in agony as she fell to the ground. Suddenly, a pain unlike anything she ever felt coursed through her back.

Her wing had snapped.

Her scream echoed throughout the forest as tumbled to the floor, desperately trying to clutch at her broken limb. She rolled to a stop and cried out again as she landed on the injury. Adrenaline and fear flooded her and she tried to stand and run, only to fall and cry again as she tried to straighten her back, her broken wing screaming in protest. She fell to the ground and rolled to her side as she looked around in the pitch black. "JACK!" She yelled. "JACK! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!"

At first, her only answer was silence.

Then a steady and rhythmic beat.

Tooth began to hyperventilate and tried again to stand. This time the pain was so great that she couldn't even scream.

Trying desperately to ignore the pain, she stood up again. Pain shot through her body as she finally managed to break into a run. The beat still followed her as she stopped to catch her breath. Her fingers dug around in the dark, desperately trying to find the matchbook she had when she lost her lantern. Her hand finally found a single stray match. Hands shaking with fear, she frantically struck it against a rock.

The light revealed the impossibly thin man standing over her, regarding her with its pale, blank face.

Tooth found it in herself to scream one more time. The match fell to the ground. She blacked out before the flame died.

**TO BE CONTINUED...**


End file.
